OFWs' financial wisdom this Christmas

Christmas is a mere 14 days away. OFWs and their families are better reminded that the meaning and value of the Yuletide is not anchored mainly on reckless spending and thoughtless splurges but on the family reunions, reconciliations and bonding of family members, and renewal of filial ties.

Financial wisdom is a more lasting gift that an OFW can impart on his spouse and children. For a wealth of empirical data do indicate that many marriages are broken, and family bonds shattered, not only due to marital infidelities and unfaithfulness, but because of irresponsible spending and lack of basic literacy in financial stewardship and management.

There are two great tragedies that can possibly befall an OFW after working for 20 years or even more, and upon coming home for good, namely: First, to see his family broken and his marriage shattered, and second, to realize that all his earnings had been totally used in consumer spending, with no investments, no savings and no financial security blanket. Based on these two premises, I have dedicated my career in labor diplomacy, as an overseas labor official, to two principal missions: To help the OFWs preserve their marriages and families and to help them acquire financial literacy and wisdom.

The first 3 years of my overseas deployment was dedicated to my first mission, through intensive and extensive psychological and legal counselling, regular behaviour-modification workshops, and character-building seminars, in collaboration with mostly church-based NGOs, like El Shaddai, Couples For Christ, Jesus Is Lord Communities and Marriage Encounter groups. Now, in the waning last 3 years of my foreign stint, I am in the thick of weekend seminars on Financial literacy, Entrepreneurship, and Business management. The module I created is euphemistically called The 7 Secrets of Financial Wisdom for OFWs, my own style of branding to arouse the curiosity and interests of my target trainees and students.

The first of these secrets is entitled: The Curse and Bondage of Poverty, where I tackled the socio-economic, political and cultural factors impinging on the phenomenon of Philippine poverty. My own life is a very good model to showcase how I liberated my family from this bondage and curse. The second secret is entitled The 7 Bad Habits of Poor People, where I dissect the behavioral patterns that perpetuate instead of neutralize poverty among many Filipinos. The third secret is entitled The 7 Excellent Habits of Financially Secured People. The fourth secret is called The 7 Sins of OFWs, which reinforce and even exacerbate the perpetuation of poverty. The fifth module is entitled Angels and Demons in Financial Struggles, whereby I outline who are the allies and the enemies of OFWs in managing their finances. I discussed the matters about credit cards and usurious borrowings. The sixth module is called Doorways to Financial Liberation, whereby I lay before the OFWs the many options for them to use in managing their financial future.

The last module is Master Plan for Financial Liberation, where all my students should make a presentation on a chosen Business Plan or a Financial Modification Plan that they will actually use to improve their financial future. One important feature of such plans is to instill disciple in spending, to adhere to family budgets, to maintain simple accounting records and to convene semestral and annual family financial planning workshops, whereby all members of the family shall review the financial performance of the past semester or year, and to plan for the next cycle. This Christmas, financial wisdom is the best gift we can give to our OFWs.

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